


Ice Cube

by WishaDream



Series: Control Shorts [12]
Category: Control (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Femslash February, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Jesse Has A Panic Attack, Short & Sweet, Surprise Kissing, and then doesn't, don't overthink it (I'm mostly talking to myself), emily helps, emily side at end, i suggest she takes her emotional support head of research, jesse needs to take a vacation now, just a silly story to fill the time between other longer stories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-15 11:54:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29683572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WishaDream/pseuds/WishaDream
Summary: Jesse feels a panic attack coming on when Emily comes up with an ingenious method to help her keep her mind in the present.
Relationships: Jesse Faden/Emily Pope
Series: Control Shorts [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2119476
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20





	Ice Cube

**Author's Note:**

> story idea inspired by this post https://pin.it/3m91uW8
> 
> I have a lot of Control based stories in the works, but nothing I'll be able to post for awhile, then this idea came so I thought I'd post it in the meantime to tide us both over.  
> Enjoy!

Jesse and Emily were sitting in the break room down in Maintenance.

It had been a long couple of weeks and Jesse had come down to the sector in order to have a break from her Director duties.

Doing maintenance around the Old House always helped to calm her when she was feeling overwhelmed, whether it be talking to the plants around the building, clearing out the mold, or just sitting in the janitor’s office, feet propped up on the table as she listened to Ahti’s tape player.

That day she was in the NSC Coolant Pump mopping floors when she heard a familiar voice call to her.

‘Jesse.”

A smile was on her face before she turned back, leaning on the handle of the mop as she inquired of the woman, “What brings the head of research down here?”

Emily smiled, holding up a bag in answer as she asked, “Want to have lunch together?”

She still had a lot left to do. Looking back she considered just how much time it would take her to finish.

The sound of Emily clearing her throat brought her focus back, “Do you even remember the last time you ate?”

_I do not._

Leaving the mop behind, Jesse led Emily back to the Janitor offices and the break room where Emily unloaded the bag. She had brought a thermos’ of soup for Jesse along with an insulated cup of coffee. Black. With two shots of cream and a dash of cinnamon.

Removing the lid of her cup she took a deep breath of the coffee, letting the warmth fill her lungs before she took a deep drink of the liquid.

While she drank deep, Emily only took a brief sip of her iced tea before setting it to the side as she blew on a spoon full of her own soup.

Hot coffee for Jesse.

Cold tea for Emily.

Hot and cold sitting together over lunch.

The contrast made her smile for a reason she couldn’t be sure of.

While Emily savored her meal, Jesse rushed through it like she was eager to get back to work. But that wasn’t true. In fact, she wished to linger. To take as long as possible before returning to her duties. Duties which she knew were stacking up by the minute.

Even though they’d ended the lockdown, there was still a lot left to do. Still several messes left over from Trench and Darling’s time that Jesse had to clean up.

AI’s that needed tracked down.

Hiss that needed to be cleansed.

If she stopped to think about it she wasn’t sure she’d ever get it all done. As soon a she fixed one thing, three more problems presented themselves.

Like Underhill’s spores, which had infected new areas of the Old House. And the clog in the Pipeworks was back. She had used the excuse of needing to mop to postpone taking care of it.

Jesse noticed the ringing in her ears just as a blackness started to creep up the sides of her vision. Her head was pounding as her breath came in quick bursts.

Her chest felt tight as she gripped her shirt, holding the fabric like she was trying to pull herself out of the increasing darkness around her vision. But no matter how tightly she held herself she could not pull herself free of the shadows. Of the dark thoughts.

_It’s only a matter of time before you take the service weapon and pull a Trench._

She could almost feel the cold of the weapon’s barrel as it pressed against her temple. Could feel the tension in her finger as she squeezed the--.

A coldness at her lips jolted her out of the vision as she found herself back in the lunch room.

Emily’s finger was pressed to her lips as Jesse registered a coldness in her mouth. Using her tongue she shifted the block of cold around, finding it to be an ice cube.

The finger left her lips as Emily wrapped her fingers around her cup of tea before taking a sip of the liquid.

Jesse shifted the cube to the side as she asked over it, ‘What’s with the ice?”

Emily took another sip before setting the cup back on the table. A ring of condensation had been left as she wiped it away with her hand before replying, “You looked like you were having a panic attack. The hope was that the sudden intrusion of cold would distract you from the anxiety.”

_It did._

Emily wiped the condensation on her hand onto her slacks, rubbing off any excess liquid off the table with her other hand, “I also theorized the ice would shock your system, bringing you back to the physical world and reality. Your focus would then be drawn to the cold in your mouth and thus keep your brain from focusing on your panic and the feelings it produced.”

_Correct again._

With the table cleared of water, Emily took a sip of her tea, making sure to put it down exactly from the spot she had taken it, “I also assumed it had been a while since you’d any water today and could use the hydration.”

_Ding ding. Right again._

Jesse had been too busy finding things to keep her distracted from work to even think about taking care of her physical body.

Laughing lightly, she reached back as she combed her finger through her hair, “Wow, you are the head of research for a reason.”

Emily’s smile was soft as it peeked over the top of her cup, “Yes, because you gave me the promotion.”

“And I obviously made the right choice.”

As Emily went back to eating her meal, Jesse focused on the feeling of the ice cube in her mouth. Using her tongue she ran it around the inside of her mouth, the coldness at the roof of her mouth doing an especially good job of keeping her mind in the present.

_COLD!_

Eventually the ice melted as she felt the dull buzzing like an annoyed bee returning to its hive.

“Emily, can I have another ice cube?”

In the time it had taken her to finish off her ice cube, Emily had finished drinking her tea. Most of the ice had melted in that time as Jesse caught the woman just as she was pouring the last of the tea and the final cube into her mouth.

“Oh. Never min--.”

Emily’s lips pressed against Jesse’s. The kiss was cold but not as cold as the ice cube Emily slid into Jesse’s mouth with her tongue.

Once delivered, Emily leaned back, returning to her seat and her meal, her expression neutral like nothing had happened.

But something had happened and the ice cube and growing heat in Jesse’s face were enough to remind her of that.

In her chest her heart started to panic for an entirely new reason as the buzzing in her head became a roaring question of: _What. The. Fu--._

“You ready to head back?”

Emily’s eyebrow was cocked as Jesse realized the woman was standing, her lunch gathered up like she was about to leave.

“No, um, you go ahead without me. I still—I’m still catching my breath.”

Emily nodded like she understood. Like Jesse was just staying behind to savor the last few minutes of her lunch and not because her legs felt like jelly after what had happened.

_What did happen? And why did it happen?_

Once Emily was gone Jesse felt her body go slack as she slid down in her seat. All at once her mind filled with a thousand questions: Why had Emily kissed her?

Was it a kiss?

Or was it just like the ice—a way to distract Jesse.

_Was a kiss really necessary to do that?_

Jesse let out a low groan as she ran her hands over her face.

She could still feel the sensation of Emily’s lips on hers. The softness of her lips pressed to hers.

_Why couldn’t she have let it linger?_

She slid down more, so that her back was resting on the seat as she pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes.

With all the things she had to worry about she now had *this* to go on top of it all.

Her breathing slowed as she considered the problem. The “problem.”

_Is it really a problem?_

The corner of her mouth curled as she considered just how big a “problem” it could be.

Leaping up, she speed boosted out of the room in an effort to catch up as she called out, “Emily, wait up!”

___

**Emily’s side**

Jesse stayed behind as Emily left the lunch room. She was relieved that Jesse had not followed her out. They both needed time to…

She was down the hall and out of ear shot when her legs gave out as she collapsed against a wall.

Grabbing the sides of her head she leaned forward, pressed into the wall, as she silently screamed at the ground, “What the actual &%#$?!”


End file.
